Keeping Your Carpets Fresh and Clean

Vacuuming with Purpose

The most obvious way to maintain that fresh carpet feel is to vacuum on a regular schedule. You should aim to vacuum your carpets at least once a week, or more often if you have heavy traffic (marching bands, parades, or some homeschooled children like I do frequenting your home). Use a good vacuum that has strong suction, a good rotating brush, and a HEPA air filter. Not all vacuums are equal and choosing a vacuum, if you are like me, can take several hours searching through review sites in order to find the right one. Some factors to consider when choosing your vacuum should include:

• Will pet or people hair regularly be an issue?
• Will I want my vacuum to be able to clean multiple types of surfaces?
• Am I too busy to vacuum regularly? (maybe you need a robot vacuum...)
• Do I have stairs, or how much weight can I safely lift?
• How big are the rooms to vacuum, or how much cord length do I need?

The more regularly we vacuum our homes the less time dirt and debris has to settle into our carpets. The goal here is to prevent dirt from getting deep into the carpet fibers where calling a professional carpet cleaner may be the only option to remove it.

Prompt Stain Removal / Professional Spot Cleaning

Have you ever been to a house where all the furniture had plastic on it? Well, I want to assure you that even though accidents happen, you shouldn't have to live in a plastic bubble to protect your furnishings and carpets. You can check this site regularly to find future articles that give advice for promptly dealing with different stains when they occur. Overall, it is important to not aggressively rub or scrub the stain as this will cause the stain to reach deeper into the carpet fibers and can cause permanent damage. Instead, use a blotting or dabbing technique to remove as much of the foreign substance as possible. In general, the quicker a stain can be addressed the easier it will be to remove.

Using Area Rugs and Mats

Area rugs and welcome mats are a great way to protect your carpets from everyday dirt and debris. Place them in high traffic areas and entry ways, and encourage people to take their shoes off before they leave the areas where you have placed a rug or mat.

Maintain Good Indoor Air Quality

Something that is often overlooked in maintaining a clean and healthy carpet is the air quality inside the home. In most homes, the largest air filter for the house is the carpet. It is where dust and allergens will settle and then get trapped in the carpet fibers. If you have central heating and air conditioning it is recommended that you change your HVAC filter at least once a month. Sometimes it can be hard to remember to do this on a monthly basis, but if you need help there are online services that will mail filters to your house. I have found that these services typically cost approximately the same as going and buying the filters from your local hardware, can save you a trip, and make it easier to remember to change your filter.

If you don't have central heating and air conditioning, I would recommend investing in a good air purifier to reduce the amount of dust and allergens that are suspended in the air in your home. In addition, if you find that the humidity in your home (especially during the winter and spring months) is elevated, you can use a dehumidifier to reduce mold and mildew growth.

Dusting is also something that should be done on a regular basis. You could pair this with vacuuming and do both on the same schedule. If you are doing this, I would suggest you dust first and then vacuum so any of the dust that escapes your duster, and falls to the floor, will be removed during vacuuming.

Rearrange Your Furniture

Not only does rearranging our furniture give us a new look on the same space it can also confuse our friends, family members, and pets! Seriously though, occasionally rearranging furniture helps prevent uneven wear by changing the flow of foot traffic through the home. Much like rotating the tires on your vehicle prolongs the usable life of your tires, rotating your furniture prolongs the life of your carpet by reducing the appearance of wear patterns from heavy foot traffic.

Deep Clean Your Carpets Annually

One of the best ways to keep your carpets fresh is to give them a once a year deep cleaning. This can be done by either renting the equipment and doing it yourself, or by scheduling a professional carpet cleaner (I happen to know one if interested...). Some pros of DIY carpet cleaning are that:

• You can schedule it on your own time
• You don't have to worry about someone you don't know being in your house
• You can do your own research and find a cleaning solution that you prefer
• New knowledge and a sense of accomplishment

I love DIY projects and would never discourage someone for wanting to try something new, but if you would rather not spend the time and effort to do it yourself there are professionals available. My biggest recommendation is that an annual deep clean is performed. It is something that we forget about or neglect and it really does prolong the life of a carpet along with providing a healthier home. Regular deep cleans can be kind of like drinking water, if you wait until you are thirsty, you are usually past the point of where you should've drank some water.

Conclusion

The key to keeping a professionally cleaned carpet fresh is regular cleaning maintenance.

• Vacuum and dust weekly
• Quickly address stains
• Protect heavy traffic areas with rugs and mats
• Change your HVAC air filter monthly
• Occasionally rearrange your furniture
• Deep clean annually.

My goal here is that you have a new pair of socks kind of day as often as possible, and I'm here to help in any way I can!